Our dojo has a good mix of both Japanese and foreigners, and we often have both resident foreign and Japanese Shihan training and instructing as well. Guest instructors from overseas also attend on a regular basis. Instruction is usually given in a combination of both Japanese and English.
Regular classes are held on Saturday mornings from 10am until noon.
Visitors are more than welcome to attend. Please let me know in advance if you'd like to come.
Shiraishi Dojo
Like most foreign Bujinkan students who live in Japan, I settled down as a student of one particular Japanese Shihan a short while after arriving. Shiraishi Isamu Sensei graciously accepted me into his dojo in early 1997, and I have been his student ever since. I continue to train regularly in his classes in addition to those of Hatsumi Sensei. Shiraishi Sensei is one of the senior Japanese Bujinkan instructors and also holds dan rank in other Japanese martial arts. He has been training personally with Hatsumi Sensei for over 25 years, with his own dojo in Kashiwa and Kasukabe. Well known for his emphasis on ukemi and on those things which are "even more basic than 'the basics'," Shiraishi Sensei's classes are highly recommended for both beginners and advanced students alike, and are held on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at the Kashiwa Shimin Taiikukan and Saturday afternoons at the Kasukabe Shimin Budokan. I encourage people to attend these classes as well. A group of dedicated students goes directly from my dojo to Shiraishi Sensei's Kasukabe class every Saturday afternoon after our traditional lunch break.
Short History
I left behind 10 years of Karate and 3 years of Kendo to begin training in the Bujinkan Dojo in Vancouver, Canada after returning from a 1-year stay in Japan in 1990. After a training trip to Japan in 1995, I decided to move back to live and have been studying in Japan as a regular student of Shiraishi Sensei and Hatsumi Sensei since the beginning of 1997. I have also trained with other Japanese Shihan such as Senseis Seno, Noguchi, Oguri, Nagato, Someya, Nakadai, Nagase, etc. and admire each of them for their own unique abilities.
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